Wildlife

James Lowen

And these I reckon are all Mealy Redpolls. And lovely they are too. Seeing them at just a few metres range was a treat.

These individuals are a less convincing for Arctic and are probably at the pale end of the Mealy Redpoll spectrum. But happy to be told otherwise...

BLOG 26 Mar 2015

Redpolls of the Arctic

Redpoll taxonomy and identification is a nightmare. Nobody seems to be quite sure where to draw the line. I wish Nigel Collar and Josep del Hoyo well when they try for the second volume of the Lynx illustrated checklist of birds of the world. Birders always seem to see Arctic Redpoll among the many Mealy Redpolls at Njelan Tuulen Tupa. Dutch birders who had spent several days there told us, however, that they had seen them only once. We saw a few individuals that I suspect would have been claimed as Arctic in Britain. What they actually are is above my pay grade to tell - but I reckon this bird looks a pretty decent prospect.